Sewing Drapes

I finally nailed down the fabric for the nursery. I was looking for something that had texture or a subtle pattern to it that was close to the wall color but not too close. The wall color is almost exactly the color of natural linen, but I was looking for more differentiation than that, which nixed a lot of my options.

I tacked half-yard samples up all over the nursery and observed them at different times of the day to see how the light changed its color and the paint color. This was the winner:



The background color on the fabric is a natural linen color, matching the walls, but the pattern is a shade darker on the paint chip. Perfect. Stand far enough away and the pattern disappears, but up close it gives interest.

So I set out the the Dallas Fabric District and after a little haggling, bought up over 45 yards of fabric and lining. I picked up a more appropriate-sized smaller pillow insert for the rocking chair, inserts for the baby crib bumpers, some cording, and tape header for the drapes.



I'm using just a touch of that beautiful blue for the crib bumper ties and crib skirt pleats. You can see how all those neutral gray linen colors melt away and let the blue "pop" and take center stage.

I got started making the drapery panels right away. They are turning out so beautiful!! I am hand-stitching all of the hems and they are behaving quite nicely. These are the most professional drapes I have made to date.



Day 1: Judge keeps getting in my way. I try to get him to lay down just five feet away and he migrates back to where ever I am to nap.



Day 2: I need to keep maneuvering back and forth between sewing then pressing my seams on the ironing board and all of that fabric with the lining is about 10-lbs of awkwardness. It's worse when you have a dog in the way and he doesn't care.